Apparat NEWDOS/80

The first alternative operating system for TRS-80s

From the April 1982 issue of 80 U.S. Journal

The Company

Once again, I have run into a company with very little information available. Here is what I was able to discover:

• The company was known as both Apparat, Inc, and Apparat Computers, Inc.

• According to opencorporates, the company was incorporated on May 1, 1984. It was dissolved on October 1, 1988.

• There are two names legally associated with Apparat: Mark Landman and James R Lauletta. It appears that Lauletta was the owner.

The Operating System

NEWDOS/80 was released in May of 1980. Several years earlier, Radio Shack had released TRSDOS 2.0 for the TRS-80 Model 1. TRSDOS has some serious bugs. A fellow named Clifford Ide created a series of patches to fix the bugs and add new features. He named this collection of patches APRDOS. You could only get the patches if you knew someone who had them.

Eventually, someone came up with the bright of idea of creating a patched version of the operating system. In TRS-80 circles, TRSDOS was referred to just as DOS. So, Dick Miller of Miller Microcomputer Services suggested calling the new product NEWDOS. (Early ads show the name as NEW DOS.)

It was the first alternative operating system for the TRS-80. According to Matthew Reed, “NEWDOS jump started the entire third-party TRS-80 disk operating system market. NEWDOS was considered by many to be an essential program for the Model I; it is quite possible that NEWDOS was more widely used than Model I TRSDOS itself.”

Who Created It?

According to Wikipedia, NEWDOS/80 was written by Cliff Ide and Jason Matthews. Eventually, Ide retired and Matthews moved onto other projects. Interestingly, Ide used the pen name “Sam Jones” to “keep his privacy and avoid being swamped by phone calls”. This information stayed hidden until an August 1987 article in 80 Micro misidentified the authors as Roy Soltoff and William Schroeder. Apparat revealed the identity of “Sam Jones” to set the record straight.

The first two versions of NEWDOS/80 depended on TRSDOS. In fact, the opening screen stated “This DOS (BOOT, SYS0-SYS6, FORMAT) originally copyrighted by Randolph H. Cook, 1978. Alterations are by Apparat.” (Randy Cook created TRSDOS.) Future versions were rewritten from the ground up to remove TRSDOS code.

Improvements over TRSDOS

One of the biggest features of NEWDOS was minidos. According to Ira Goldklang, “By simultaneously pressing DFG on the keyboard, you could enter a smaller version of DOS to check directories, free space, and other functions. You could do this from BASIC and any program which did not disable interrupts or take control away from the keyboard device control block (as DOS would not see the key presses). This feature was phenomenal in preventing one from having to save all their work, exit BASIC for DOS, run their command, go back into BASIC, and try to remember where they were. The manual explains MINI-DOS best – “When, during the execution of a main program, the operator would like to interrupt the main program, execute one or more of the DOS library commands, and then resume main program execution without any changes having occurred in the main program’s state during the interruption. To execute MINI-DOS, simultaneously press the ‘DFG’ keys (but not during disk I/O), and execute the DOS command. Any DOS library command can be used except APPEND, CHAIN, COPY, FORMAT, PDRIVE, AND SYSTEM. Single file copy can, however, be executed with the MDCOPY command.””

NEWDOS also took “advantage of advances in floppy disk storage that went beyond the initial 87.5 KB 35-track, single-density, single-sided format”.

Reviews

Jerry Pournelle had the following to say about NEWDOS in the July 1980 issue of Byte Magazine:

“For the moment, the best disk operating system for the TRS-80 is Apparat's NEWDOS +, a much better operating system than Radio Shack's, and it's upward com- patible with TRSDOS. In fact, Tandy ought to be marketing NEWDOS + themselves.”

Mahlon G. Kelly wrote a detailed review for the June 1982 issue of Byte Magazine. Here is the conclusion:

“The TRS-SO is now served by more than nine operating systems. In my opinion, a satisfactory system must provide double-density operation, optimal compatibility between the Model I and the Model III, and flexibility in system configuration. At least two DOSes meet these criteria : LDOS and NEWOOS / SO Version 2.0. (See "LOOS-Disk Operating System for the TRS-80," by Tim Daneliuk, March 1982 BYTE, page 372 .) They are both superior to any operating system I have used on any mini- or microcomputer. If they were designed for a less common machine, they would cost many thousands of dollars . In fact , if purchased separately, the cost of a few of the utilities in NEWDOS / 80 Version 2.0 would probably be more than the complete operating system.

I believe that NEWDOS / 80 Version 2.0 is the most powerful operating system available for the TRS-80 Models I and III . As far as I know, it has all of the important features of other operating systems for TRS-80s. Some DOSes may have other options, such as the filtering procedures of LDOS, but those are made up for by such things as V2's BASIC enhancements, Superzap and other utilities, and by improved file types. Above all, V2's flexibility in supporting various system configurations and allowing compatibility between the Models I and III is outstanding.

Given my choice, I would rather own an Aston Martin than a Ferrari, but I recognize that the choice is subjective . The choice between NEWDOS / 80 Version 2.0 and some of its competitors may be equally subjective, but it's one of the best operating systems ever designed”

David E. Powers wrote the following for the September 29, 1980 issue of InfoWorld, “NEWDOS/80 belongs in every TRS-80 disk owner's software library. It is a superior operating system that increases the value of the microcomputer, whether you use it for recreation, business, or miscellaneous household purposes.”

Bob Louden wrote the following for the November 16, 1981 issue of InfoWorld, “NEWDOS/80 belongs is a big, powerful operating system designed for those who want maximum speed and flexibility and are will to learn a new, complex system to achieve these benefits. NEWDOS/80 will help you get the most out of your investment in the TRS-80, particularly if you have - or plan to get - increased-density drives.”

I would like to thank Matthew Reed and Ira Goldklang for their invaluable sites about the TRS-80. They were very helpful in writing this article. Definitely check them out if you are interested in TRS-80 history.

Did you ever use a TRS-80 with NEWDOS? Tell us about it in the comments below.

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